Library: An Account of the Comitate of Drazgor

__ _____________/\_____________ __ (______/ \______) An Account of the Comitate of Drazgor in the darker volumes of the Duchy of Mornveil As preserved by Qetu ______ ______ (__ \_____________ _____________/ __) \/ ----------,-------´------------------,-------´-------------------,------´- ^o^ The Valley of Veil and Shadow ^o^ Nestled in a hollow of cruel stone and restless cloud, the Comitate of Drazgor remains a land apart - a secluded dominion hemmed in by the unyielding spires of the Mournspire Mountains. From those peaks descends a pall of perpetual mist, an exhalation neither wholly natural nor benign. It winds through the passes like a living thing, cloaking manor and moor alike in unbroken twilight. Few travel there willingly. Merchants lose their way, pilgrims vanish, and the ravens that dwell along the border are said to carry off fragments of speech from those who trespass. Yet within that hush endures an ancient order of nobility - lines of men whose lineage defies both war and time. ----------,-------´------------------,-------´-------------------,------´- ^o^ The Four Baronies of Drazgor ^o^ Barony of Velmarn --=-----------=-- Westernmost of the four, Velmarn guards the Redroad Pass, a narrow artery through which all entry into Drazgor must come. Its ancestral seat, Varrhold Keep, looms above the pass like a sentinel hewn from the very cliff. The Velmarn banner bears a crescent moon pierced by an iron spike upon a field of black - a relic of the barony's oath to seal the valley from intruders. The current lord, Baron Rhedoric Velmarn, maintains the ancient tolls and keeps a meticulous ledger of every soul who crosses his domain. Few beyond his scribes have ever seen those records, and none can say how many names they contain. Barony of Morveil --=-----------=-- The central basin of Drazgor belongs to Baron Thalen Morveil, whose manor, Hallowmere Court, rises amid fields of dark soil and slow-moving waters. Morveil's heraldry depicts a silver chalice brimming with shadow, symbol of the house's claim to dominion over the lifeblood of the valley. The people of Morveil labor by night, for their harvest thrives only in moonlight. The baron himself seldom appears, issuing decrees through veiled emissaries and maintaining a rule as precise as it is invisible. Barony of Drauthen --=-----------=-- In the north, where frost lingers even through midsummer, stands the fortress of Drauthenholt, ancestral home to Baron Corvath Drauthen. The Drauthen arms display a white stag upon a sable field, recalling the legendary beast the first baron hunted through seven nights of storm without rest. Today, Drauthenholt is less fortress than reliquary - its halls lined with trophies of bone, and its watchtowers manned by silent retainers. The barony is known for its isolation, and for the strange, bell-like calls that echo from its forests long after nightfall. Barony of Eshkar --=----------=-- The eastern cliffs, and the valley's last river, belong to Baron Ulven Eshkar, whose seat, Sablethrone Manor, commands a view of both mist and mountain. The Eshkar crest bears a mirrored serpent biting its tail - a symbol of eternal inquiry and confinement. The barony's artisans are famed for their glass and mirrorwork, though many of their creations are said to distort rather than reflect. Records show that every heir of Eshkar has been a scholar of the occult sciences, yet the nature of their studies remains closely guarded, and the manor's observatory has not opened its shutters in over a century. ----------,-------´------------------,-------´-------------------,------´- ^o^ The Independent Estates ^o^ Gravenmere Hall --=---------=-- Of all Drazgor's holdings, none are more mourned than Gravenmere Hall, once seated by the still waters of Lake Veynt. In its prime, Gravenmere was a beacon of refinement - its lord, Lord Veynt, a patron of the arts and of unrecorded sciences. Its sigil, a crimson sun sinking behind a silver gate, endures still in fragments of stained glass found among its ruins. The hall's fall, some centuries past, was sudden and absolute. No chronicles agree on the cause - some speak of rebellion, others of fratricide - yet when searchers finally came, they found only desolation and silence. Lord Veynt and his wife, Lady Avarienne, vanished from all record, their legacy surviving only as a cautionary silence in the annals of Mornveil. Caldrith Hollow --=---------=-- Carved into a hollow of black limestone south of Velmarn, Caldrith Hollow was founded by Master Rulian Caldrith, a recluse and scholar of forgotten disciplines. Its seal shows an open book upon a tethered chain, denoting knowledge bound and guarded. Over the decades the estate became a retreat for those seeking quiet study, though no account survives of any visitor's return. The last entry in the ducal census lists the estate as "occupied, but unseen." House Varnock --=-------=-- Where the two black rivers meet stands Varnock House, a fortified estate of ironstone and shuttered galleries. Its master, Sir Damar Varnock, was once a commander of Mornveil's border hosts. The Varnock sigil - a mailed hand clutching a burning crown - commemorates the oath sworn by his forebears to guard Drazgor against all intrusion. Though the house remains garrisoned and its banners kept immaculate, no living soldier has been recorded leaving its gates in over two generations. ----------,-------´------------------,-------´-------------------,------´- ^o^ Customs and Heraldry of Drazgor ^o^ The heraldic tradition of Drazgor is austere and symbolic, with each house maintaining a chromatic palette of black, silver, and deep crimson - the colours of endurance, purity, and remembrance. None bear creatures of light or sun; their emblems speak instead of endurance, reflection, and shadow. Among Drazgori customs, none is older than the Night Vigil, observed on the eve of every new moon. Throughout the valley, candles are placed in windows facing west, said to guide the spirits of the forefathers as they cross the veil between living and remembered. No bell tolls that night, for silence itself is the prayer. Marriage within Drazgor is a patriarchal rite known as the Bond of Veins, recorded not by priest or scribe but by the family steward, who pricks the hands of the bride and groom to seal their union upon the family crest. Succession is ever male, unbroken save in times of catastrophe, when estates are left fallow rather than passed to daughters. Burial rites are equally strange. The nobles of Drazgor are not interred in earth but sealed upright within stone crypts, facing north, as if forever awaiting judgment. Each crypt bears no name, only a sigil engraved upon a black tablet - a gesture, they say, toward humility before the eternal. ----------,-------´------------------,-------´-------------------,------´- ^o^ Closing Observations ^o^ Thus endures the Comitate of Drazgor: mist-locked, blood-bound, and loyal only to its own memory. Its barons do not die but recede, its banners do not fade but darken with time. No merchant prospers there, no pilgrim lingers, yet the valley abides - as though guarded by its own breath. And whether curse or covenant sustains its rulers, none can say. For Drazgor remains what it has always been: a kingdom of endurance beyond decay, where history itself seems reluctant to move forward.

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Library: An Account of the Comitate of Drazgor